Easy to Open Reusable Bottle

ABSTRACT

The invention described herein relates to a reusable bottle, including a threadless bottle; a cap comprising an outer cap and an inner cap, wherein the inner cap is received in the outer cap and creates a vacuum seal when the cap engages a bottle, wherein the cap engages the bottle using a threadless friction fit. To remove the cap from the bottle, one simply slides the cap off the bottle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Provisional application Ser. No.______, filed on Oct. 27, 2016, entitled An Easy to Open and ReusableBottle for Children, naming Cameron Bishop as the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention removes the difficulty that children and older adults havein opening threaded bottle containers, e.g., soda bottles, sportsbeverage bottles like Gatorade® or PowerAde®, and other reusablebottles, particularly beverage bottles, sold empty. Bottle containershaving a threaded bottle portion that mates with a threaded cap requirestwisting the cap to remove it from the bottle. Opening these types ofbottles can be difficult to open for individuals with limited handstrength such as young children and the elderly. Children, inparticular, tend to use their teeth to open the caps to bottlecontainers or ask for an adult to open it for them. Children could breaktheir teeth, as well as annoy adults by frequently asking for theirassistance. In extreme circumstances a child may choke on a cap removedby pulling on it with his/her teeth. The invention gives the youngerpopulation, elderly adults or those with limited hand strength theability of easily opening a bottle containing a beverage or other fluid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention described herein relates to a reusable bottle, including athreadless bottle; a cap comprising an outer cap and an inner cap,wherein the inner cap is received in the outer cap.

When the cap engages the bottle, the cap and bottle assembly creates avacuum seal between the bottle and cap, creating a leak proof seal.Further, the cap engages the bottle using a threadless friction fit. Toremove the cap from the bottle, one simply slides the cap off thebottle.

To clean the bottle and components, simply slide the cap off the bottle.The cap may then be disassembled by snapping the inner cap out of theouter cap by applying pressure to a portion of the inner cap, dislodgingit from its position inside the outer cap.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the bottle shown anddescribed herein.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the bottle shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3. is a cross-sectional view of the cap for the bottle shown inFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention described herein relates to a reusable bottle, including athreadless bottle; a cap comprising an outer cap and an inner cap,wherein said inner cap is received in the outer cap, and wherein saidcap engages the bottle using a friction fit. In the embodiment describedherein, the easy to open reusable bottle assembly 10 includes athreadless bottle 12, a cap 14 comprising an outer cap 16 and an innercap 18. The design for the bottle assembly 10 could also be incorporatedinto the production of drug and prescription bottles, bottled beverages,and food containers.

Now turning to a more detailed description of an embodiment of theinvention. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bottle is unthreaded. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the bottle 12 is the type andconstruction known in the industry for containing beverages, such asNalgene™ bottles, except the bottle 12 does not includes threads. Asbest seen in FIG. 3, the bottle 12 defines a hollow center for receivingcontents to be stored, which may include a liquid, pills or othercontents.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the bottle assembly 10 also includes a cap 14.The cap 14 is an unthreaded closure for the bottle 12 and includes anouter cap 16 and an inner cap 18. The outer cap 16 includes an outerbody 20 having a top surface 22 and a sidewall 24 extending away fromthe top surface 22. The top surface 22 defines a central opening 26.

The outer cap 16 also defines an inner surface 28. The inner surface 28defines a hollow opening surrounded by sidewall 24 and is partiallyclosed at one end by the inner surface of top surface 22. The innersurface of top surface 22 defines a recessed wall 30 surrounding theopening 26.

The recessed wall 30 defines a lip 32 that extends laterally in thedirection of the radius of the opening 26. The outer cap 16 may be madeof a plastic or metal material. The outer cap 16 could be made using aplastics material such as, but not limited to, PVC. Alternatively, theouter cap 16 could also be made using a dense rubber or rubber-likematerial that would create a more pliable, easy to grip surface.

Turning now to FIG. 3, the inner cap 18 acts as a leak-proof piece tocontain the contents located inside the bottle 12. The inner cap 18 maybe made of a soft, flexible material such as rubber or polypropylene orother similar materials. As best seen in FIG. 3, the inner cap 18includes an outer surface 40 and an inner surface 42. Both the outersurface 40 and the inner surface 42 are, in the embodiment described,smooth-wall surfaces.

The outer surface 40 of inner cap 18 includes a top surface 34 and asidewall surface 36 extending away from the top surface 34 in adirection opposite the sidewall 36. The top surface 34 defines a nipple38 that outwardly extends away from the top surface 34. The innersurface 42 of cap 18 defines a hollow center 44 (not shown) surroundedby the sidewall surface 36 and closed at one end by inner surface 42. Asbest seen in FIG. 3, the sidewall surface 36 is a smooth threadlesssurface.

Assembly One Embodiment of Cap 14

The inner cap 18 is designed to snap into and out of outer cap 16 foreasy cleaning of the components. To assembly the cap 14, the inner cap18 is press fit into the inner surface 28 of the outer cap 16. Pressureis applied to inner cap 18 until the inner cap 18 passes by the lip 32and the nipple 38 is positioned in opening 26, wherein the lip 32 holdsthe inner cap 18 in place. To remove the inner cap 18 from the outer cap16, pressure is applied to the nipple 38 and maintained until the innercap 18 slides past the lip 32.

Once the inner cap 18 is assembled in outer cap 16, there is a gap (SeeFIG. 3) between the inner cap 18 and the outer cap 16 for receiving thetop end of bottle 12, creating a threadless, friction fit between thebottle 12 and the cap 14. The cap 14 when assembled on the bottle 12creates a vacuum seal, which creates a leak proof seal that prevents anyliquid contents stored in the bottle from leaking out.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the bottle 10disclosed herein may be made using plastics injection and blow moldingtechniques. For example, inner cap 18 and outer cap 16 could be formedusing injection molding techniques, whereas the bottle 12 could beformed using blow molding techniques. However, one of ordinary skill inthe art will know that other fabrication techniques may be used to formthe components of the described invention.

One of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that typicalmaterials to be used for fabrication may include plastics, such as, butnot limited to, pvc, clarified pvc, polypropylene, polyethylene, andsome softer plastics or rubber or rubber-like materials, such as, butnot limited to, polyurethane or polypropylene or similar materials. Forinstance, in the disclosed embodiment, the inner cap 18 was manufacturedusing polypropylene; the outer cap was manufactured using polyvinylchloride (“PVC”); and the bottle was manufactured using clarified PVC.It will also be known to one of skill in the art that using rubber orrubber-like materials will give the cap 14 have a stronger sealingcapacity.

An Example of One Embodiment of the Bottle 10 in Use

A person would first grab hold of the bottle 10 with one hand. The nextstep would be to grab the cap 14 with the other hand and pull the cap 14so that it slides off the top of the bottle 12. To clean the bottle 12,remove the cap 14 and snap the inner cap 18 out of the outer cap 16 byapplying pressure to the nipple 38 until the inner cap 18 slides pastthe lip 32.

It is to be understood that the above-referenced description isillustrative of the invention. Numerous modifications and alternativearrangements can be devised without departing from the spirt and scopeof the present invention. While the invention has been shown in thedrawings and described above in connection with the exemplary embodiment(s) of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art that numerous modifications can be made without departing fromthe principles and concepts of the invention. All such modifications andvariations are intended to be included herein within the scope of thisdisclosure and protected by the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A reusable bottle, comprising: a threadless bottle; and acap comprising an outer cap and an inner cap, wherein said inner cap isreceived in the outer cap, and wherein said cap engages the bottle usinga friction fit.
 2. The bottle defined in claim 1, wherein said outer capsupports a lip, wherein said inner lip holds the inner cap in placeinside the outer cap.